Content playback apparatuses which reproduce content such as still images or moving images are in widespread use. Especially in recent years, the widespread use of the Internet and web services provided by using the Internet has given rise to the use of network-type content playback apparatuses which acquire content data from an external server apparatus via a network and reproduce content contained in the acquired content data. Examples of the network-type content playback apparatuses include a slide-show display apparatus that reproduces, as a slide show, a plurality of slides including photographs.
Such a network-type content playback apparatus makes it necessary to handle various errors that occur in a communication process for acquiring content data. For example, when a server apparatus has no content data that is to be provided to the content playback apparatus, the server apparatus cannot provide any content data to the content playback apparatus. In such a case, it is preferable that the content playback apparatus notify the user that a so-called server error has occurred. Further, even when the server apparatus sends out content data, the content playback apparatus may not be able to complete the acquisition of the content data due to a network failure or the like. In such a case, it is preferable that the content playback apparatus notify the user that a so-called terminal error has occurred. This is because without such notification, the user feels stressed from not being notified why no content can be reproduced.
Usually, when a conventional general-purpose web server has no content data that is to be transmitted to a content playback apparatus, the conventional general-purpose web server transmits, to the content playback apparatus into which a web browser or the like is loaded, an error code 404 indicating that there exists no required content data. The web browser shows the user an error screen indicating “404 NOT FOUND” or the like, thereby notifying the user that an error has occurred in the server. Further, in cases where an error has occurred in the terminal, the content playback apparatus shows the user a predetermined error screen indicating that the terminal error has occurred, thereby notifying the user that the terminal error has occurred.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 53765/2006 (Tokukai 2006-53765; published on Feb. 23, 2006) discloses a network complex machine which transmits an error message (“404 (Not Found)” according to HTTP) in cases where no required web page is saved.
The conventional content playback apparatus has difficulty in flexibly performing error handling when an error has occurred, e.g., in causing the error screen to vary according to the content being reproduced.
The foregoing problem will be described below in a little more detail.
When such an error has occurred that content to be reproduced next cannot be acquired, the conventional content playback apparatus performs error handling in accordance with a program stored in advance therein. Even in cases where error handling according to the type of error that has occurred is performed, for example, by referring to an error code provided from a server apparatus, each process that is performed according to the type of error is determined in accordance with the program. Therefore, variations of error handling that can be performed by the content playback apparatus are determined at a point of time where the program is stored in the content playback apparatus. For this reason, it has been difficult for the content playback apparatus to flexibly perform error handling when an error has occurred, e.g., to display an error screen that varies according to the content being reproduced.
Such a problem may be solved by arranging for the content playback apparatus to acquire, from a server apparatus, error-handling data, such as error-handling content data containing an error screen as content, for performing error handling. However, the need to perform error handling arises under such conditions that content to be reproduced next cannot be acquired. Under such conditions, it is highly possible that the content playback apparatus cannot acquire error-handling data. Therefore, it is not feasible to arrange for the content playback apparatus to acquire error-handling data from a server apparatus when an error has occurred.